Drogo's Journal
Here is the journal of Drogo Littlefox. Date unknown, Location.... unknown (1/19/2013) I write this quickly as we don our armor and gather our weapons. '' Today we found ourselves in a jail or cell of some sort. We remember being hired to guard an airship bound for dwarven lands, however we where shot out of the sky and crashed into and through the earth. how we survived I do not know. I thank Yondalla that we did though! The cell seems rather rough cut, we where able to gather stones that our artificer enchanted to strike powerfully when thrown. there we handed to Liv, the monk and the spellthief. I suppose I should say that we where guarded by a pair of very strange Orcs. They seemed very sickly and wept tears of blood. Very strange! I ask Yondalla's protection from their illness. I prefer my blood inside of me. we formed a plan in which I would tell one of the Orcs a very facinating story, I chose to tell him of the time my mentor Fredrick Marcus Goldstar and I went to this tavern and... well I have previously written of the tale, it needs no retelling here. Then when he, or was it she I never cared to find out, was enthralled we would strike the other orc with the stones. the battle was fierce, the warriors threw their rocks with the skill of, well, Halfling children. they barely stuck our captors! Then Liv produced some picks from somewhere on her body, where she can hide those I do not know. She quickly picked the lock and our monk and spellthief went to punch that same orc. they slew it quickly as well. The artificer went to police the slain orc's weapon. then our Resident strong arm, a Half orc, who's name I cannot understand, ran out of the cell, grabbed the huge axe from the artificer and attacked the poor orc who stood transfixed as I continued the story, knowing then that my magic had been broken I quieted, even if I was just getting to the part with that lovely halfling lass, what was her name? Melody? Melanie? Something like that. Anyways the Warriors slew that orc quickly as well. I pray his sickness remains with him and his soul travels quickly to whatever afterlife he is worthy of. I do not wish to be haunted by him. We Left the jail room and entered another in which a chest held our arms and armor. Also my wonderful Dog and the half orc's Wolf where located there. Currently we don our equipment and prepare to venture out. I hope that we can find our way back to civilization soon, I feel unsettled with our situation. Same day. Location still unknown. ''Another battle. I must write this down, However, I still feel unwell after spending time in that stinking cloud spell. We encountered a group of orcs and Dwarves outside of the Jail house. They escorted a robed figure wearing a mask. they each had an aura that seemed to feed the robed one. The battle we fought was close. I had to expend many charges from my wand to heal the members of our group. I was also able to recount the story of Huginn and his doughnut, which lent the company courage in battle. Excuse me as I now go to release whatever contents are left in my stomach. Same Date, Lost Thaig. (1/26/2013) After our battles we found a ruined temple. Within said temple we found a ceremonial Dagger, a Scroll of Rope Trick and more enemies that we quickly dispatched. I have spent nearly half of the magic of my healing wand to assist my friends. Our Wondrous Artificer successfully used the scroll of rope trick and we set up to rest. when a large group of Dwarves marched down a corridor across a large bridge on the other side of the chasm. I Suppose I should note that there is a large chasm filled with lava that is on one side of the room. As well, a gigantic forge labeled "Demon Forge" ...This cannot be a good thing. Why would someone name something demon forge, why not the forge of happiness and butterflies or something? It's very disconcerting. On the demon forge we found some smithing tools, that are magical in some way. The artificer Samuel and I left our extra dimensional space and had an interesting discussion with these Dwarves. It turns out they heard of our airship crashing and knew we where bound for Moharth, That we where 2 weeks travel from house Varen's holds. The Thaig that we where at was lost some time ago and finally that there was an army of those creatures that the Dwarves expected to meet across the chasm. Their battle was fierce. After losing more than half their number the gallant Dwarves took down the bridge. After the dust settled and knowning the battle was over they withdrew and brought their dead with them. I wish their souls a speedy journey to Dwarfhome. We began our journey away from the Thaig swiftly. We encountered a pair of those Dark Spawn dragging a dwarf behind them, Our Friend Mondo of the Church of the Paragons. Having saved our spiritual friend. Our journey took us into a tunnel with large egg like objects that contained Dwarves, these poor souls seemed to have been or where becoming those Dark Spawn. We cut one out of it's egg and after Samuel tried to heal it, the creature attacked him. The warriors dispatched it quickly but not before it mentioned “Mother.” I do not look forward to encountering whatever these poor wretches consider their parents. Same Date, Mother's Nest Well, we found the Mother creature. It was at least 16 feet tall and must have weighed a ton. Her stomach was... was a mouth... 'I do not wish to go into much depth here. All I will say is that the memories of this battle will be with me for the rest of my days, I will not find much sleep in the coming nights. The battle with the mother was hard fought. Besides her own powerful attacks she also controlled many Spawn. Our Goliath Monk Goldak was eaten by "her" even after Samuel enlarge him after reciting scripture from his bible. Thankfully he was able to survive until the Monster was slain. The spawn all died or became dead again after their mother was killed. I believe we will need to investigate this link further if the opportunity presents itself. There was a secret passage leading from the rear of the chamber. We are following that, hopefully we will find our way to the house of Varen quickly. I am attempting to create a map, this chamber may be useful to those with more knowledge of these creatures than us. Date X+ two and a half weeks, Thaig Varen. We found the dwarven underground highway a few days after leaving the chamber with the mother. A total of two weeks travel has brought us to the Thaig of Varen. After explaining who we where to the guards the Honor Guard of the lord himself escorted us to the throne room. After describing our journey so far and, conversing about the Dark Spawn in general. Lord Varen asked us to find the “Under Key.” This artifact will allow the use of the Forge of Moradin, which in conjunction with the demon forge we encountered earlier, will allow Items of great power to be crafted. He recommended that we start our journey by traveling to the City of Water and speak with the Lord of water, a powerful scryer. She... yes a she, I know her title is lord. I assume it is a honorific title that cannot be changed... w''ill be able to help us locate the under key and then we will return to this Thaig. The journey there will take us back to the surface, which I look forward to immensely. I worried I would never see the Sun again. I was asked to request, on behalf of Liv and the Monk, a stipened for traveling expenses and the like. ''I did not know that the monk was such a mercenary, I assumed he was more inclined to deny worldly possessions but, Who am I to judge? ''Lord Varen was understanding and gave each of us a large bag of gold. We are to be housed in the merchantile district at one of the inns. We will leave tomorrow I believe. Thaig Varen (2/3/2013) We Spent a few days in the Thaig, we explored the Merchantile District. I purchased some wonderful magic items, a Shirt that changes colors and styles to fit whatever mood that I am in. (ShiftWeave) I also found a everful mug, magic rations that will never run out, a new wand to help inspire my friends in battle, and a Magic Lantern that hovers over my shoulder and burns as bright as a torch. After our time in Thaig Varen we where escorted by a handful of Dwarven guards towards Thaig Moharth. enroute we met Duncan the Paladin of St. Cuthbert, Who offered us passage to the elven lands. It was a two day walk to Thaig Moharth. I persuaded the guards of the forge of moradin to let us get a glimpse of it. The forge was housed in a room 50 feet tall and the same wide. the forge was huge. We have an idea of how large the Under Key is as well. Exiting the thaig we mounted horses Duncan provided. The first day out we encountered a band of Warg Riders, Vile Orcs attacked us in the middle of the night but we dispatched them readily. Another day brought us to the border with the Elves. Elven Border The passage to the elf lands is a canyon five feet wide through the mountains, 80 feet long. On our side of the pass four Men waited for us. They where dressed as Paladins of St. Cuthbert, however when Duncan went to talk to them they struck him down with vile magic. We retaliated as quickly as possible, Dispatching two of the dark paladins quickly. The other two brought duncan through the pass. Following as quickly as possible we saw the two drag Duncan into a dwarven building not far from the exit. Errendil and Dead Eye stayed behind to bring the horses through the pass and the rest of the group headed to the building. Liv found a few traps as we entered the Dwarven built trading post. We readied to enter the room, all of us gathering around the door. First Chogo opened the door, we saw Duncan in the center of the room in a field of magic on top of a symbol of Nerull. Two Dark Sorcerer type people stood over him conducting some profane ritual. As the door opened the two paladins charged us. They almost killed Goldak and Chogo, they both went unconcious a few times. Eventually we prevailed, but took our fair share of hits, our warlock, Rook was sapped of all his strength and cannot even stand. Duncan seems addled. the warriors are all wounded to some degree as well. after we dressed our wounds we exited to meet some elves that dead eye and Errendil encountered while the majority of the party was clearing the way into the post. They seemed to be druids and where some of the few that where still in the area. Most of the druids protecting this area had been called north to fight. The leader offered to bring us to the city of water, as the forrest is dangerous for those unfamiliar with it. ''We are going to rest in the post for the night, Hopefully there are no evil spirits here, I do not trust the area that necromancers resided in. I feel there will be little sleep for me tonight. Yondalla protects.